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TOYING AROUND: Pre-New York Toy Fair Edition

Tomorrow’s a big day in the toy community. Companies from all over the world flock to New York City’s Javits Center to wander around the massive complex and look at every kind of upcoming toy you can think of at Toy Fair 2014. While the place holds everything from dollar store ephemera to huge playground equipment, the focus for the collector community, of course, is the wide variety of action figures, statues, props and other collectibles revealed. But, not everyone waits for the massive industry event to reveal their upcoming goods. Here’s a list of what we saw this week and don’t forget to come back soon as CBR will have a variety of TOYING AROUND posts following the show.

DC COLLECTIBLES | DC Collectibles didn’t wait until Sunday to start showing off their Toy Fair reveals. In fact, they came out with a ton of new items, images and announcements that will get collectors jazzed for 2014 and beyond. “Batman: The Animated Series” and “The New Batman Adventures” each spawned new lines that will include Catwoman, Batman, Two-Face and Mr. Freeze. Meanwhile there’s going to be a line based on the “Son of Batman” animated film that will include Deathstroke, Robin, Batman and Nightwing. “Batman: Li’l Gotham” versions of Harley, Joker, Batman and Robin will also make their debut this year along with wooden figures of Superman and Batman with changeable faces.

On the statue side of things, three new Batman Black and White pieces were announced: Neal Adams Zombie Batman, Dick Sprang Joker and Michael Turner Bats. Wonder Woman: The Art of War, a newer line, will welcome a piece based on the work of Yanick Paquette while the Man of Steel series adds statues based on the Superman: The Animated Series cartoon and Shane Davis’ pencils to its line-up.

GAME OF THRONES | Dark Horse Deluxe also got a jump on Toy Fair reveals by showing off five new figures that will become part of their Game of Thrones line. The 7.5-inch scale figures come with zero points of articulation and act more as plastic statues than traditional action figures. The new line-up includes Cersei Baratheon, Arya Stark, Robb Stark, Jaime Lannister and the White Walker.

GAME OF THRONES | If you prefer your Game of Thrones figures with more articulation, Funko has just the line for you. The new, 6-inch scale Legacy Collection will kick off with Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, The Hound, Tyrion Lannister, White Walker and Ned Stark. Initially the line will be exclusive to Barnes & Noble stores before going wide after that.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY | If you missed the story on CBR earlier this week, Hasbro unveiled the first images of their “Guardians of the Galaxy” figures based on the upcoming movie. Gamora, Peter Quill, Rocket Raccoon, Drax and a Build-A-Figure Groot take center stage in the poster which will be given out at Toy Fair. More figures will see the light of day during the event.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLIDER | In other Marvel movie figure news, MTV showed off some new “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” toys from Diamond Select Toys. In addition to a 7-inch Marvel Select version of the character in his modern togs there’s also a set of MiniMate 2-packs including Stealth Uniform Cap and Brock Rumlow, Classic Cap and Winter Solider, Black Widow and Falcon and Agent Sitwell with Batroc. Everything will be available by the film’s April 4 release.

ALL-NEW X-MEN | After popping up here and there across the internet these past few weeks, the Marvel Legends All-New X-Men box set is finally available for pre-order on the Toys “R” Us site. The set includes Iceman, Cyclops, Angel, Beast and Marvel Girl and ship in March.

ALIEN | One of H.R. Giger’s most famous creations is getting another epic action figure thanks to S.H. MonsterArts. The baddie dubbed “Big Chap” in Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic sci-fi horror film “Alien,” can recreate many of the iconic poses from the movie thanks to a variety of articulation points. Big Chap hits stores and spaceships near you in June.

BATMAN | Batman’s got a lot of cool gadgets to utilize in his never-ending battle against crime. One of the best and most iconic is the Batarang. Hollywood Collectibles Group wants 300 fans to celebrate the ‘rang with a foot-long prop replica that also folds in half! Throw at your own risk.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE | The latest installment in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, “Texas Chainsaw 3D,” has officially made its way into the world of collectibles thanks to this massive quarter scale statue from Hollywood Collectibles Group. Measuring in at around 20 inches tall, Leatherface here is limited to 500 pieces and comes with a severed arm base.

IRON MAN 2 | At this point, it feels like we’ve seen roughly a bajillion variations on Iron Man armors from the movies, so it’s nice to see a different film-based armor-clad character with a different mug under the mask. Hot Toys took to Facebook to show off their new, diecast Whiplash Mark II complete with Mickey Rourke face to recreate the climactic final battle from “Iron Man 2.”

RAMBO | It’s not all apes over at NECA these days — they’re also working on the next installment in their line of Sylvester Stallone-based Rambo action figures. The company took to social media again to show off this new head sculpt from the “Rambo: First Blood” figure. The finished product will be on display at Toy Fair.

MORTAL KOMBAT | Pop Culture Shock continues to cultivate their Mortal Kombat Klassics line of quarter scale statues. This time around, they have Mileena and a limited variant of Jade. Both characters began life as palette swaps for Kitana, but have gone on to have lives of their own as the series progressed. Mileena is limited to 450 pieces while Jade has 200 available. Both ship at the end of this year.

ASSASSIN’S CREED | McFarlance Toys announced the line-up for the their second wave of figures based on the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise. While images were not released, we now know the new series will include Connor with a Mohawk as seen in “Assassin’s Creed III,” Aveline De Gradnpre from “Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation” and Assassin Adewale from the “Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag” DLC “Freedom Cry.” The figures will hit in August.